Changing the cycle

Although many local organizations provide food and shelter to people experiencing homelessness or poverty, Greater Birmingham Period (GBP) is dedicated to a different need: menstrual products.

The idea of GBP, co-president Lillie Stubsten said, is to be a “radically generous organization” that works to end stigma around periods by celebrating menstruation and giving out period product packages without judgment to those who cannot buy them.

“It really is an incredible barrier to not have the products they need,” Stubsten said. “When you are experiencing [homelessness], you may only have one set of clothes you can’t risk to get spoiled. It can make you cold, and there’s so many health problems you can have if you don't have period products on the regular.”

They said the group is made up of about 10-15 active members and even more volunteers that participate in events. The group gets together for “packing parties,” where they create discreet packs of pads and tampons of various sizes to last someone through at least one period, possibly more. They get the period products through events and donations. 

The Birmingham group is part of the national organization PERIOD., dubbed “the menstrual movement.” It is non-profit organization started in 2014 dedicated to menstrual health justice and the distribution of period products. Stubsten said the Birmingham chapter became part of the national organization in late 2017.

“I feel like people forget about these needs,” Stubsten said. “We don't like to speak on the periods of the marginalized, but those are the people who have those needs, and we really want to serve people that way.”

Right now, they said, people point them to Linn Park and say that’s where the need is highest, as well as a place where food is distributed on Sundays, making it a good location to reach a large number of people. However, GBP is looking for more places to distribute their collected products. 

GBP usually distributes twice a month, with food, water and period packs.

“People are so excited to see us, and people willingly tell us their stories. We’ll give someone a bag, and people will tell us their reproductive narratives, and that’s something I’m so privileged to hear,” Stubsten said. 

Member Asher Larson, who has experienced homelessness before, said it was and still is a prevalent need in the community.

“One thing you learn a lot, people give out food and water, but [period products] is a need no one is helping them with. When you only have so much money, it can be really hard to choose between tampons or food or transportation or interview clothes,” Larson said.

She said they always make sure it’s a “non-judgmental service.”

“You'll come up to someone, and they'll be like, ‘Thank God, I started today,’” Larson said. “They’ll take things for their nieces and sisters and friends.”

GBP threw their first event in January at the DIY venue in Avondale called The Firehouse, where punk bands played and a booth was set up with more information about the organization and how to help. Instead of a cover, show-goers were asked to bring a box of tampons or pads, or donate money for members to purchase them. Stubsten said the event was a success and they got enough donations to carry them through several months of period packs. 

GBP also hosted their Red Rag Zine Release and Poetry Party at Crestwood Coffee Company in June. The zine included a book of published submissions of poems and pictures relating to local period experiences, with the purpose to also “de-stigmatize” periods, Stubsten said. 

“I think [periods are stigmatized] because it has to do with women’s bodies,” they said. “Sexism is so prevalent in our society, anything that [has] to do with bodies that have vaginas are stigmatized. We are trying to end that.”

To get in the door, a donation of a box of pads or tampons was required, and donations were collected in order to purchase a copy of the zine. Any money they raise from events can be sent to their national organization to get the greatest number of period products in bulk.

Another key aspect of GBP is investigating and pushing legislation that supports period products for women. They are hoping to get municipal bills passed that provide free tampons and pads to students in Alabama school systems, whose families might not be able to afford it, and in the state prison system, where products are often only available in the commissary for expensive prices that inmates often can not afford.  

Alabama House Bill 363 would require county jails and state penitentiaries to provide period products to female inmates under certain conditions and was reintroduced for the first time in early February.

Stubsten said garnering support for this bill, along with proposing other bills, will be an upcoming focus for the organization. 

GBP meets the first and third Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Peace Room, located at 4413 Fifth Ave. S., to discuss upcoming projects and how the distribution events at Linn Park are going. The organization seeks members who are activists, organizers, writers, artists and anyone interested in menstrual health justice or learning more. GBP is LGBTQ-friendly and welcomes people of all genders. 

Donations of period products are always encouraged, and Stubsten said they tend to need pads more than tampons. They plan to release a second zine closer to 2019 and hold a similar reading.

For more information, email greaterbirminghamperiod@gmail.com or go to greaterbirminghamperiod.wordpress.com.

Editor's Note: Asher Larson and Lillie Stubsten were incorrectly gendered in the original version of this article, and it has been fixed in the online edition. The error was not made maliciously or purposefully, and apologies have been extended. Iron City Ink will run a correction in the next print edition.